Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z is the long-running sequel to the anime Dragon Ball. The series is a close adaptation of the second (and far longer) portion of the Dragon Ball manga written and drawn by Akira Toriyama. In the United States, the manga's second portion is also titled Dragon Ball Z to prevent confusion. The series follows the adventures of the adult Son Goku who, along with his companions, defends the earth against assorted villains. While the original Dragon Ball anime followed Goku through childhood into adulthood, Dragon Ball Z is a continuation of his adulthood life, but at the same time parallels the maturation of his son, Gohan. The separation between the series is also significant as the latter series takes on a more dramatic and serious tone. The anime also features characters, situations and back-stories not present in the original manga. After Dragon Ball Z, the story of Goku and friends continues in the anime-only series Dragon Ball GT. This series is not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama. Toriyama's humor/parody manga Neko Majin Z features several concepts introduced in Dragon Ball Z (several Dragon Ball Z characters even make various appearances), but that manga is designed as a parody and not a true continuation of the series. In April 2009, a new 'refresh' of Dragon Ball Z began airing on Japanese television. This recut is titled Dragon Ball Kai. Production history The anime first premiered in Japan on April 18, 1989 (on Fuji TV) at 7:00 p.m. and ended on January 31, 1996. In the U.S., the series ran between 1996 and 2003, though not always on the same networks or with continuity of dubbing. For details on the dubbing problems, see Ocean dub and FUNimation dub. It aired in the UK, albeit with the same dubbing problem, on Cartoon Network, premiering on March 6, 2000 and running on that channel until 2002. The Majin Buu Saga, Fusion Saga and Kid Buu Saga were later broadcast on CNX (which later changed its name to "Toonami"), with the show ending on February 28, 2003. After the finished run it was repeated daily, until the Toonami merge with Cartoon Network Too. It has not been broadcast again in the UK since. Censorship issues Dragon Ball Z was marketed to appeal to a wide range of viewers from all ages, and contains crude humor and occasional excesses of violence which are commonly seen as inappropriate for younger audiences by American standards. When it was marketed in the US, the distribution company FUNimation alongside with Saban decided to initially focus exclusively on the young children's market, because the anime market was still small compared to the much larger children's cartoon market. This censorship often had unintentionally humorous results, such as changing all references to death so the dead characters were merely going to "another dimension", and digitally altering two ogres' shirts to read "HFIL" instead of "HELL". Starting with the Ginyu Saga (3rd US season) on Cartoon Network, censorship was reduced due to fewer restrictions on cable programming. FUNimation did the dubbing on their own this time around with their own voice actors. In 2003, FUNimation began to redub the first two sagas of Dragon Ball Z, to remove the problems that were caused from their previous partnership with Saban. They also redubbed the first three movies. However, the show still retained some level of censorship, not out of FCC laws, but out of choice by Funimation, so as to cater to the possible sensitivity of western audiences. For example, Mr. Satan was renamed Hercule to avoid any religious slurs; his daughter, Videl, was a play on the word Devil, but Funimation felt that the connection was obscure enough to not worry about. Filler and differences from the manga Filler is used to pad out the series for many reasons; in the case of Dragon Ball Z, more often than not, it was because the anime was running alongside the manga, and there was no way for the anime to run ahead of the manga (since Toriyama was still writing it, at the same time). The company behind the anime, Toei Animation, would occasionally make up their own side stories to either further explain things, or simply to extend the series. Filler doesn't come only in the form of side stories, though; sometimes it's as simple as adding some extra attacks into a fight. One of the more infamous examples of filler is the Frieza Saga. After Frieza had set the Planet Namek to blow up in five minutes, the final fight with Frieza still lasted well over five episodes, much less five minutes. As the anime series was forced to expand 12 pages of manga text into 25 minutes of animation footage, these changes were introduced to kill time or to allow the (anime) writers to explore some other aspect of the series' universe. The Anoyo-ichi Budōkai (Afterlife Tournament) between the Cell Games Saga and the Majin Buu Saga, and the Garlic Junior Saga (Garlic Jr.'s return from the Return my Gohan!! movie) between the Frieza Saga and Trunks Saga are both good examples of this. They have also been known to contradict the manga and often create new plot holes. Besides having filler scenes and episodes, there are many changes from the original manga. Among them are the following: * When Tien loses his arm when fighting Nappa, his arm becomes a stump with only a small amount of blood seen. In the manga the scene is much more gory. * In the manga Frieza kills Cargo, but in the anime Dodoria kills him. * In the original manga Appule kills all the Namekians in a village and tells Frieza, who is annoyed that he didn't ask them where Vegeta was. However, Frieza just tells him to call the Ginyu Force. In the anime the soldier is changed to another unnamed orange soldier to as "Orlen" in the closed captioning for the Ocean Dub VHS tapes - it is unclear if this is canonical however, who is killed by Frieza when he tells of his mistake. * In the manga, Frieza's full power is never a match for Goku's Super Saiyan form, but in the anime, Frieza appears to have the upper hand for a short time before he begins to tire. * Though the flashback of Future Trunks and Future Gohan fighting Androids 17 and 18 is present in both the anime and the manga, there are notable discrepancies between the flashback and the scene depicted in the TV special, The History of Trunks. In the special, Gohan had lost his arm, Trunks had not yet achieved his Super Saiyan form, and there was no rain in the scene in question. * When Vegito fights Super Buu (with Gohan absorbed) in the manga, Vegito immediately fights in his Super Saiyan form. In the anime, Vegito fought (rather successfully) in his base form for a while before becoming a Super Saiyan. * The anime has two significant filler portions: the Garlic Jr. Saga and the Other World Tournament segment of the Great Saiyaman Saga. * In the manga, many of the characters have a different number of fingers on their hands; such as Piccolo (3 fingers and a thumb), Dodoria (3 thumb-like fingers), and Imperfect form Cell (two long fingers and a long thumb). In the anime, everybody has human-like hands with 4 fingers and a thumb. Reception and impact The impact of Dragon Ball Z is enormous. For more than 15 years, the series has stood the test of time and has reached out to many children and adults alike across the globe. This is mainly due to the series' very clear representations of good overpowering evil, love overpowering hate, the importance of family and friends, and an unyielding passion toward achieving goals. The series also featured heavy sci-fi overtones, and a greater emphasis on fighting - making it extremely popular among adolescent boys who had grown up alongside the original series. Dragon Ball Z has also played a large part in contributing to the popularity of anime in westen culture. Though the first two seasons of the series were played on various networks in the U.S. in 1996, it would not take off for two more years until August 31, 1998, when Cartoon Network featured the show in its action-oriented Toonami lineup. Toonami heralded the show as "The Greatest Action Cartoon Ever Made," and it greatly boosted the popularity of Toonami, but unknowingly did so much more. Dragon Ball Z's newfound popularity helped to bring about a greater interest in Japanese cartoons in the eyes of western youth, which in turn fueled the western anime industry to new heights. Many items such as apparel, backpacks, lunch boxes, writing utensils, candies, drinks, foods and more feature Dragon Ball Z, in both Japan and North America. Action figures, collectible figurines, plush toys, bobble heads, and character model kits were also made. The fast food chain Burger King featured Dragon Ball Z toys twice in the early 2000's. Despite the TV series officially ending in Japan in 1996, and in 2003 in North America, Dragon Ball Z video games are created nearly every year for almost every console on the market, helping to introduce the Dragon Ball Z series to younger generations that never got a chance to see it air on television. These games usually do very well in the market. Popular sites such as YouTube have attracted large Dragon Ball Z fan communities over the course of the last few years, and Dragon Ball related videos receive many views. All of these examples showcase the incredible popularity of Dragon Ball Z in many countries of the world. Sagas Toei sagas #Saiyan Saga (Episodes 1~35); 1989 - 1990 #Frieza Saga (Episodes 36~116); 1990 - 1991 #Cell Saga (Episodes 117~194); 1991 - 1993 #Buu Saga (Episodes 195~291); 1993 - 1996 English anime sagas Saiyan Saga: *The Vegeta Saga (originally The Saiyan Conflict) (Episodes 1~35) Frieza Saga: *The Namek Saga (Episodes 36~67) *The Captain Ginyu Saga (Episodes 68~74) *The Frieza Saga (Episodes 75~107) Cell Saga: *The Garlic Jr. Saga (Episodes 108~116) *The Trunks Saga (Episodes 117~124) *The Androids Saga (Episodes 125~138) *The Imperfect Cell Saga (Episodes 139~151) *The Perfect Cell Saga (Episodes 152~164) *The Cell Games Saga (Episodes 165~194) Buu Saga: *The Great Saiyaman Saga (Episodes 195~208) *The World Tournament Saga (Episodes 209~218) *The Babidi Saga (Episodes 219~230) *The Majin Buu Saga (Episodes 231~252) *The Fusion Saga (Episodes 253~274) *The Kid Buu Saga (Episodes 275~291) Movies, TV specials, OVA Movies Toei titles #Return my Gohan!! (1989) #The World's Strongest (1990) #Super Deciding Battle for the Entire Planet Earth (1990) #Super Saiyan Son Goku (1991) #The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest (1991) #Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors (1992) #Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans (:1992) #Burn Up!! A Close, Intense, Super-Fierce Battle (1993) #The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy (1993) #The Dangerous Duo! Super-Warriors Can't Rest (1994) #Super-Warrior Defeat!! I'm the One who'll Win (1994) #Fusion Reborn!! Goku and Vegeta (1994) #Dragon Fist Explosion! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will? (1995) #Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (2008) English anime titles #Dead Zone (1997) (Remastered/Re-released in May 27, 2008) #The World's Strongest (1998) (Remastered/Re-released in May 27, 2008) #The Tree of Might (1998) (Remastered/Re-released in September 16, 2008) #Lord Slug (2001) (Remastered/Re-released in September 16, 2008) #Cooler's Revenge (2001) (Remastered/Re-released in November 11, 2008) #Return of Cooler (2002) (Remastered/Re-released in November 11, 2008) #Super Android 13! (2003) (Remastered/Re-released in February 18, 2009) #Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan (2003) (Remastered/Re-released in March 31, 2009) #Bojack Unbound (2004) (Remastered/Re-released in February 18, 2009) #Broly: The Second Coming (2005) (Remastered/Re-released in March 31, 2009) #Bio-Broly (2005) (Remastered/Re-released in March 31, 2009) #Fusion Reborn (2006) (Remastered/Re-released in May 19, 2009) #Wrath of the Dragon (2006) (Remastered/Re-released in May 19, 2009) TV specials Toei titles #A Lonesome, Final Battle: The Father of Z-Warrior Kakarrot, who Challenged Freeza (1990) #Resistance to Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors, Gohan and Trunks (1993) English anime titles #Bardock: The Father of Goku (2000) (Remastered/Re-released in February 19, 2008) #The History of Trunks (2000) (Remastered/Re-released in February 19, 2008) OVA *The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (1993) Releases Japanese releases Originally, only the Dragon Ball Z movies, and the Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans OVA were available for home viewing in Japan. The movies were released on both VHS and Laserdisc format. The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans OVA was released both on VHS and on the PlayDia, as an interactive FMV. Dragon Box releases In 2003, all of the Dragon Ball Z TV series was finally released under the "Dragon Box" label for home viewing in Japan, on two large DVD boxed sets, following the release of a similar set for Dragon Ball. Each Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box had a large amount of DVD extras, as well as an action figure and a book. The video and audio transfers of the show used on these DVDs came off of the Fuji TV master tapes of the show, as this allowed Toei to put out a far superior and completely accurate version of the show on DVD, which was helpful since the entire plot of a season could be summed up in about ten minutes. This allowed all episodes to have their original openings, endings, eyecatches, next episode previews, etc., compared to what was available in the US. In late 2005 the Dragon Box Z DVDs were re-released in single volumes with six episodes per disc. While the packaging and DVD menus are different from the 2003 release, and so far no plans have been announced for the two TV specials and the Playdia footage released with the 2003 versions, the Audio and Visual quality is the exact same as those discs found in the 2003 Dragon Box release. In April 14, 2006, a "Dragon Box: The Movies" DVD box was released. This release contained all 17 Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z theatrical features, containing 8 DVDs in total, along with a book, and two scouters in the form of walkie-talkies. The video and audio are remastered; however, the video is cropped to 16:9 (widescreen) and contains less picture than the full-screen versions. This is a common occurrence for films from Toei based on long-running and popular TV series (See Saint Seiya, Fist of the North Star, and One Piece). All Dragon Box releases contain Japanese language audio only (with exceptions to foreign-language bonus clips), and no subtitles. Pioneer DVDs During the late 90's/early 00's, the first 53 (Saban/FUNimation version numbers, originally uncut as 67) TV episodes were released on to DVD by Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon Entertainment USA). These contained only the edited, US-TV broadcast versions (dubbed by the Ocean group), and totalled 17 volumes, comprising the 'Saiyan Saga' and the 'Namek Saga'. Along with these episodes, Pioneer also produced bilingual, uncut DVDs of the first three Dragon Ball Z theatrical features. These DVDs retained the original Ocean cast for the English track, as well as being one of the first uncut and bilingual releases in the U.S. The English versions of these films were also subject to a different treatment than the series; rather than replacing the original music, the original OP and ED themes, as well as background music, were retained. The only noticeable differences besides languages are the inclusion of a few different sound effects which are not present on the original Japanese version. These films were released as a three-disc boxset by Pioneer. As of August the 31st, 2004, Pioneer's license for video distribution of the first 53 episodes ended, allowing FUNimation to re-release them. At the moment, the rights for these episodes and for the first three Dragon Ball Z movies belong to FUNimation. FUNimation DVDs As of 2000, FUNimation had released uncut versions of their Texas-based English dub on to DVD, with Japanese language track, and English-translation subtitles. This release doesn't include the first two sagas, as the rights for the distribution of that episodes were still held by Pioneer Entertainment. These DVDs begin with the Captain Ginyu saga, and contain every episode covering (Japanese numbers) 68 till 291. Boxsets were release for the Garlic Jr., Androids, Imperfect Cell, Perfect Cell, World Tournament, Majin Buu, Fusion, and Kid Buu U.S. sagas. However, in order to maximize profits, the DVDs were released out of continuity (certain amounts of one section of the series were released, and then FUNimation would go back and release others). With no noticeable numbering visible, this caused frustration to those trying to follow the series from start to finish. FUNimation also released Dragon Ball Z movies 4-13, finishing the release of the movies with 'Wrath of the Dragon', the 13th movie. These are all bilingual and subtitled, but do not follow the trend set by Ocean's first three movies. Music has been changed and altered, including the insertion of songs from rock bands such as Pantera and Deftones. The movies utilize FUNimation's TV series Texas cast, though they also include the original Japanese version with subtitling by Steve Simmons. FUNimation Ultimate Uncut DVDs After acquiring the video rights to the first 53 (67 uncut) episodes from Pioneer in 2004, FUNimation announced that they would release these episodes uncut, with a new 5.1 English language track and uncut footage. The Ultimate Uncut Special Edition line was born. The release would be 22 volumes, bilingual, and with extras. The Saiyan Saga was renamed the 'Vegeta' Saga (Parts I and II, covering 12 DVDs), probably to avoid confusion with the Pioneer volumes. However, after DVD volume 9, FUNimation canceled these box sets and planned to re-re-release them in the new DVD season boxsets they are currently working on. This upset fans who had purchased the expensive Ultimate Uncut DVDs, as the Vegeta Saga Part II will never be completed, and the Ultimate Uncut Namek Saga DVDs will not be created. FUNimation had also acquired the rights for the first three movies from Pioneer in 2004, and re-released them. Even though the three had same cover style, only the first movie was released under the Ultimate Uncut line. All of these movies had a 5.1 English track, new subtitles, different DVD extras and come in a boxset titled 'First Strike'. However, they do not retain the original Ocean dub, and contain a new English dub produced by FUNimation's Texas cast. This version contains different music than the original dub and than the Japanese version. FUNimation has officially dropped the 'Ultimate Uncut' line and is working on their season boxsets. FUNimation Remastered Box Sets In November 2005, FUNimation announced they would release a remastered form of Dragon Ball Z on DVD beginning in 2007. All DBZ episodes are to be remastered and released in boxset form. The first season set (the entire Vegeta Saga) was re-released on February 6, 2007. The first 39 episodes of this season are spread across 6 discs, and cost $30-$50 USD (the original intention was for 5 discs, but there was a risk of quality reduction). FUNimation released a trailer for the new set on the Dragon Ball Z official website. FUNimation released the second season set, containing both the Namek and Captain Ginyu sagas, on May 22, 2007. Voice actor Brice Armstrong re-dubbed the voice acting for Captain Ginyu, to keep consistency with the remainder of the dub. The third season set, containing the Frieza Saga, was released later that year. The fourth season, containing both the Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android sagas, was released in February of 2008. Season five, containing both the Imperfect and Perfect Cell sagas, was released May 27, 2008. Season six, containing the Cell Games Saga, was released September 16, 2008. Season seven, containing both the Great Saiyaman and World Tournament sagas, was released November 11, 2008. Season eight, containing both the Babidi and Majin Buu sagas, was released February 10, 2009. Season nine, containing both the Fusion and Kid Buu sagas, was released May 19, 2009. The series has been re-transferred at 1080p resolution with digital restoration technology removing all grain and scratches from FUNimation's original prints of the series. It is important to note however, that like many late 80's-early 90's Toei productions (for example, Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Marmalade Boy, Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Slam Dunk), the series was produced on 16 millimeter film which tends to be fairly grainy and soft. The new restoration was supervised by colorist Steve Franko. The series is presented in widescreen format (1.78:1, cropped from the original full frame) for the first time. Comparison images from the new set show that while there is missing footage on the top and bottom, there is at least additional footage on the right and left that has not appeared in any prior release, having been taken straight from the original Japanese film master recording. This format change was highly controversial among fans, as this is not how the T.V. episodes were intended to be seen and this substantially alters them. Many fans launched a letter-writing campaign against the release. In response to the negative fan outcry regarding the release's apparent cropping of the source video, a FUNimation representative has released a document from the team remastering the video, which explains the logistics of the new release. This document details how certain areas of the original film are damaged, and admits that though the video is cropped, this release will eliminate the grain that would be present on prior 4:3 releases. It has also been theorized that it is ultimately more inexpensive to transfer the series in 16:9 and thereby remove the damaged portions of the frame than to repair 291 episodes' worth of damaged film. The boxset contains a revised English track in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (it contains the original Japanese score by Shunsuke Kikuchi, although it is unknown just how the English dialogue is revised). For the first time ever, there is a choice between having the Japanese dialogue with Toei's original Japanese music, or English dialogue with either FUNimation's dub music or Toei's original Japanese music. Special features include a featurette on the remastering of the original Japanese print and a 24-page booklet with episode summaries, character descriptions and a DBZ timeline. FUNimation Dragon Box Sets Funimation Dragon Box sets were confirmed for release by Funimation Entertainment on July 19, 2009. The Dragon Box will be produced from the original Dragon Box masters after a frame by frame restoration and will span the entire 291 episode television series and all 13 of its movies. This definitive DVD box release begins with Dragon Box One which includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, on 6 discs. The Dragon Box releases will feature an aspect ratio of 4:3, the original Japanese audio (with options for an English track or English subtitles), the original episode previews, complete opening and closing credits and a collector’s booklet. Dragon Box One was released on November 10th, 2009 with an SRP of $79.98. Dragon Box Two will be available at major retailers nationwide on February 16th, 2010. Cast list Theme songs Japanese themes *Openings *# "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" *#* Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama *#** Version 1: episodes 1~21 (Not on FUNimation's DVDs, but is on Pioneer's movie 1 DVD) *#** Version 2: episodes 22~117 *#** Version 3: episodes 118~194 *# "WE GOTTA POWER" *#* Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Keiju Ishikawa, Arrangement: Keiju Ishikawa, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama *#** Episodes 195~291 *Closings *# "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā!"; でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー! (Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power!) *#* Lyrics: Toshihisa Arakawa, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: MANNA *#** Episodes 1~194 *# "Boku-tachi ha Tenshi Datta"; 僕達は天使だった (We Were Angels) *#* Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Osamu Tozuka, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama *#** Episodes 195~291 English anime themes *Openings **"Main Title" (AKA "Rock the Dragon") **"DragonBall Z" (AKA "DBZ Theme") **"Dragonball Z" (Ocean Group Dub from episode 108 onwardshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qovFPmg0cmI) **"DBZ Uncut Theme" **"DBZ Movie Theme" **"Eternal Sacrifice" (Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan theme song) :Vocals: Tendril *Endings **Most English endings are simply shortened or otherwise altered versions of the openings, however The Ultimate Uncut Special Edition release used "Summon Up the Dragon". See also * List of Dragon Ball characters * List of Dragon Ball Z episodes * Dragon Ball Video Games * Z Fighters * Dragon Ball Franchise * Dragon Ball Canon * Dragon Ball Movies External links * English Dragon Ball Z website * YTV Dragon Ball Z Site * Toei Dragon Ball Z website * Satan City, a fansite * Daizenshuu EX * DBZ Sneeze * Ultimate DBZ * DBZ HQ Forum * Kanzentai de:Dragonball Z es:Dragon Ball Z Category:Dragon Ball Z